A Slave's Choice: Torture or Death!

It was a bit ironic that my new next-door-neighbor turned out to be a FBI agent who
specialized in corporate crime. I really didn't have much faith in the FBI being able to helpme with my problems since the government in general had had very little success in an anti-trust suit they had against RAM. The people who were causing my problems were a power elite who literally were above the law. In fact I was becoming more and more convinced that some arm of the government was behind my problems. But, since I had no other hope, I thought I would talk to the agent and maybe use it as leverage.

One weekend while Anita was away visiting her father, I got the opportunity to talk with my new neighbor. I talked to him about my problem in generalities and he seemed interested, but he was more interested in the general business practices at IBM. Little came out of the conversation except an affirmation in my mind that he would be able to do little to help me.

The following Monday I decided to approach my boss to see what response I would get. I went into his office and got directly to the point.

“Hi Don. Do you have a moment to talk about something?”

“Come on in Russ,” he replied.

I took out a small pocket tape recorder and said, “Do you mind if I record this conversation because it is important?”

Don became extremely nervous and started tapping his pencil on the desk and bouncing his feet on the floor. “We can talk about anything you like, but you can't record it!”

I said fine and then continued. “My next door neighbor is a FBI agent, and if the harassment doesn't stop around here I'm going to talk to them. Now you can tell that to whomever you please, but I am not kidding.”

Don was excited and nervous and he didn't know what to say. Apparently “they” had not briefed him for handling such a situation. “Fine, I'll pass you message on,” he finally replied.

“Good.” I said. “Because I'm tired of living like this.”

“You know Russ, you should trust RAM. We would never participate in any nefarious scheme and besides, the FBI treats people pretty rough too.”

I left Don's office feeling at least Don was worried about my going to the FBI. I really had no intention of going to the FBI, but I was hoping the threat might bring some change.

The response to my FBI threat was swift and retaliatory as usual. That afternoon I was working alone in the laboratory when my second level manager, Gene Leski came in and started a conversation with me. After some idle chatter, Gene said, “Russ, a person could get killed working alone.” Then after a long pause he added, “working in the lab that is.” I took the comment to be a disguised threat on my life, but the way it was worded I could never prove it.

That evening I told Anita what had happened and I said, “He worded the threat in such a way that you could argue that it was a harmless comment, but if you had been there, the only way it could have been taken was as a threat.”

One thing the threat had not done was cause any great increase in my anxiety. I just was not worried about them killing me because I believed “they” did not need another martyr like Karen Silkwood on their hands.

The next day at work was fairly normal. There were no harassing phone calls or strange incidences. As I was about to leave work Don Slewowski grabbed me and said he had to talk to me about working in the lab. I said Gene already had spoken to me and another conversation on the topic wasn't necessary. But Don insisted.

“You know Russ, some of your actions are really dangerous. You could get seriously hurt or even killed if you keep it up.”

“I know, Gene already informed me.”

“Well, I'm just telling you for your own protection,” Don assured me with a threatening tone in his voice.

I left work feeling again that my life had been threatened, but it was done under the disguise of working alone in the laboratory. First, none of the threats ever mentioned my comments about going to the FBI and two RAM trained, smooth talking managers would not use words like “killed” in talking about a minor infraction of working in the laboratory alone. Finally, the tone of Don's voice was more threatening than advising, but as usual a person would sound crazy if he said RAM managers were making threats against your life. Given the situation, it would be hard not to take them as threats. This time, the comments did have the intended effect in that they created a great deal of anxiety and a sense of panic set in.

Nazi Terrorism and the american injustice(sic) system.

If you think you are “free” in this country and you work for a living, read the previous post again. I was a slave! If I wasn't a good slave, the masters, the owners would force me to a subsistence level of existence. And since I already knew how corrupt and worthless the american judicial was, I had no legal avenues to pursue. I will relate later how the american slavery system was enforced on other employees.

The phone was also used to modify my behavior in other ways. I had decided to make another dentist appointment by the same dentist which had broken my tooth. On the first call, the receptionist answered , identified herself and then we were cut off. I immediately called back. This time I got to identify myself before the call was cut off again. On the third call I was explaining to the receptionist how my calls were being cut off when it happened again. At that point I decided “they” did not want me to go back to that dentist, and “they” or somebody else were cutting off my phone calls. I found another dentist in the phone book and I called and made an appointment without any problems. My choice of dentists had been made by cutting off my phone calls.

At this point I had become pretty desperate and was hoping to find some way out of my predicament before I went completely insane. I decided to call Cruz Little and find out where the lawsuit stood. I called with some apprehension because of the altered sworn statement, but I needed to know where things stood in the Gamma Supplies legal battle. He informed me that the judge had reversed his earlier decision(surprise!) and now the lawsuit would be decided on the merits of the case which meant my testimony and signed deposition was important and needed. He also informed me that after a year and a half of unemployment Ravi Sardess was now employed by a foundry supply company and now they were going to take his deposition. It was very clear that my captors and tormentors believed in obtaining testimony through economic extortion. In other words, if you want to work, you will testify as “they” tell you to testify. “They” were definitely a criminal element. And, many years later, I learned that Ravi didn't get just a job, he was the company Technical Director.

“You are wasting your time; he'll sing the Gamma Supplies story now.” I told Cruz. “I don't know who is behind this, but they can move mountains and Ravi isn't about to testify against them.”

Cruz seemed oblivious to my comments and continued on as if nothing was wrong. I hung up feeling worse that ever. Not only was my testimony important, I had no place to turn.

MORE TERROR - NO ESCAPE

Dick on the other had was much more cynical and resentful. All his years of being at the bottom of the pecking order had left him with some deep bitterness towards the RAM system and that bitterness sometimes showed itself in directed hostility. In many ways, Dick had the same resentment toward the RAM system that many older veterans had, but Dick's personality was such that he tried to get back at the system every chance he got. I was the perfect target for his pent up hostilities and his need for revenge. Dick instructed me in the practical aspects of handling the problem material. While I worked well with Bill, he was to become one of my primary antagonists while I was employed at RAM.

The orchestrated harassment began to intensify in mid September and what I call cross-over events began to occur. Cross-over events were references at work about things which had occurred at home in my personal life. It was a form of torment which let me know that I had absolutely no privacy. And lack of privacy is a key element in mental torture.

Anita's father had been having some serious medical problems and had to be confined to a hospital bed. Since I would not allow a phone in the house because of because of the the annoying calls, Anita had to call her mother from a neighbor's house. Since every effort at work was made to be cruel to me, I made no mention of my father-in-law's medical problems for fear that it would be used to antagonize me. Then one day, Hun Wong from the sister Polymer Science Technology group and a close friend of Osama's stopped by my office.

“Hi, Russ.” He said. “How come you look so down?”

I was surprised that Hun(I believe another non-american) stopped by to talk to me because in general I was isolated and people avoided me. He was correct in that I was becoming depressed.

I responded, “Oh, I have some personal problems that are getting to me.”

“Yes, I heard you were having some personal problems and that your father was in the hospital and has been in serious condition.” He replied.

I didn't even question how he knew about my personal life. I was use to it by now. However, I have always been curious why he mixed up my father for my father-in-law. Maybe he just didn't get the story straight. I had not said anything to anyone and I could only assume his reference was to my father-in-law's medical condition. I should add that that was the only time Hun ever came up and talked to me.

My privacy at work was also invaded in ways similar to those used at Gamma Supplies. In fact, most of the techniques were the same, but no mention was ever made of Gamma Supplies. I still had the practice of leaving my briefcase on my desk and one day I came in my office and found it had been moved. I quickly checked through it to find a memo on Closteal letterhead! I had checked several times to make sure there were no references to Closteal in my briefcase, and now after finding by briefcase moved, there was a memo on Closteal letterhead prominently located in the file holder. This conjured up all sorts of fears about being fired for lying on the employment application. Of course, it reaffirmed that my briefcase was not a safe place to keep anything important. There would be many more threats toward my employment situation and most of them were much more direct. The purpose was the create FEAR, ANXIETY and more FEAR.


I continued to get annoying phone calls at work, and when I complained to my bosses they said it was just people getting the wrong number and nothing could be done. Terrorizing me by phone expanded to include letting me know that all my phone calls were being monitored. One day I had to call an old friend at a former company (pre Delta Oil) for some technical information for my current research project. As we talked I mentioned my Gamma Supplies problems and told him I was still considering a lawsuit against my former employer. After the conversation I went back to work and thought no more of it. About five minutes later I was walking by Don's office when he called me in. Don seemed more nervous than usual. He began by getting right to the point.

“Russ, I don't know what kind of problems you had with your former employer, but if you should decide to sue them, the RAM lawyers would have to see if you could remain employed here. I don't think that would be possible. But that's just in case you should decide to sue. Otherwise there are no problems.” I just stood there and didn't know what to say. The message was clear. My phone calls were being monitored as was everything else in my life and, I could not sue Gamma Supplies.

Also by telling me immediately after I had just made the phone call, the greatest conditioning terrorizing impact had been made. My behavior was being modified. From then on I would have to be very careful of what I said on the phone.